"I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God."
-Psalm 40:1-3

This past week has been amazing and God has clearly been at work. A team of 10 from Castle Rock Community Church left New Orleans at 5 a.m. last Thursday morning and began the long haul to Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

We have been helped my so many, more than 11,000 to be exact, from across the nation in these three years that have followed Hurricane Katrina. So many of our homeowners and people that we have talked to have said that they are so grateful for the help we have offered and that if a disaster was to hit somewhere else that they would be there to help. So, we took that to heart and decided that it was time for our church to begin to "repay" for all the help we have received as we work to rebuild.

When we set out I knew who everyone was, but I didn't really know anyone on a deeper level. That is one of the things I love about missions trips. You have an amazing opportunity to get to know those you go to church with, or in my case, also those you work with. And there is probably no better way to get to know people than to travel more than 18 hours in a car with them.

As the day went on, I began to wonder what we were going to be doing on Friday. We still didn't have any plan or any potential projects. So somewhere in Arkansas I started making phone calls. I called the crisis pregnancy place in Cedar Rapids because they had been flooded but they were taking the 4th of July off. I asked the woman if she knew of anything else. As it turns out, one of their board members was an associate pastor at a church that was flooded. About 30 minutes later I received a call from that church's pastor and he was so excited.

He said the timing of my phone call was such a God thing. He had recently gotten off the phone with a woman who had been in tears because she had been working on gutting her house for the past two weeks and was exhausted and overwhelmed. He prayed for us and gave me her information. When I called her you could hear in her voice that she was overwhelmed. I assured her we were prepared to do whatever she needed and we agreed to meet at her house the next morning.

We arrived around 11:30 Thursday night and it was good to be out of the van and in a bed. It was also good to be staying with my parents again much sooner that I thought I would be. The next morning I called Lisa, our homeowner, and she was clearly still tired and a little apprehensive. I told her we would make it easy for her and we just wanted to be there for her. As we drove closer to the flooded area you could tell it was pretty bad, but it didn't seem to compare to what we had seen here. Then we turned a corner and it was as if we had been time warped back to New Orleans. The piles of gutted things on the curb, the water line, the muck in the streets and the smell....It was unreal.

When we arrived she was there talking to her neighbor and when I walked up we gave each other a big hug and she cried. There are perhaps no words for that moment. I feel that a hug and an encouraging word is what she needed at that very moment. I introduced her to the rest of our team and we took a tour of her house and talked about what needed to be done.

She had done an amazing amount on her own. Everything was cleared out of the first floor and most of the walls were torn out as well. She still had some things in her basement and that needed to be power washed. She'd had about 6 1/2 feet of water at its highest point and the infamous water line was clear all around her house.

So we dug in and started working. I took Ms. Helen and Ms. Bertha to the mall to stand in the Red Cross line for Lisa and made a hardware store stop. After lunch our first news crew arrived. We had sent an e-mail to each of the local stations and the newspaper and several took us up on it. The reporter and camera guy were both from Maine and had been brought in to help with flood coverage. It was fun being on the other end of the media, although I think I still like being on the media end. :)

Soon thereafter the other crew arrived. I spent a good chunk of the day handling that and making sure everyone was where they needed to be and had what they needed, but that was good and I was learning how that provided opportunities for others. We worked until about 5:30 the first day and decided we'd be back the next day because there was still much to be done.

Saturday morning we arrived back at Lisa's and several friends of mine from my church in West Des Moines came to help as well. We had a blast on Saturday. I ended up on the business end of a garden hose more than once as we scrubbed Lisa's house to remove the waterline and muck. A few of our group went to Parkview Evangelical Free Church in Iowa City to help there and ended up at a home that had not yet been gutted.

We saw Lisa relax a bit more on Saturday. By lunchtime we were singing songs from "The Music Man" and laughing. The weight of what had happened seemed to lift a little and we made the day fun even while we were accomplishing much. I saw a family that was out providing cookies and pop for volunteers, saw how Salvation Army and the Red Cross were out and about and saw FEMA making the rounds.

When we left Saturday night the street around her house was clean, her yard had been raked, the waterline was gone and siding looked brand new, her basement had been power washed, the walls were removed up to the ceilings, the bathroom had been gutted and cleared out and I believe that Lisa's mood had been changed.

Both nights we were able to spend time as a team and with friends talking and laughing. Cedar Hills Evangelical Free Church provided food for meals and some church members came to eat with us and brought food as well.

Sunday monrning we were at Cedar Hills for all three services and it was so good. Ms. Bertha gave her account of Katrina and what she had learned and countless people came up to tell her what an encouragement she had been. Each team member had great conversations and were able to talk to people about what they had learned either in Katrina or on our trip and provide the encouragement that eventually everything will be alright because we have the hope found only in Christ.

Lisa came to church with us on Sunday as well and it was great to see how our team truly adopted her and showered love on her. She was such a blessing to each of us and it was hard to leave, but I know that the friendship that was started will continue on.

This has been a long post, but there is just so much that has happened. I have strengthened relationships with those I work with, and made several new friends. I have seen God provide opportunities to shower his love on someone and see a life begin to change because of that. I have seen people encouraged in their suffering and those who have not been directly affected be challenged to get involved.

God is good, all the time and we are blessed to be able to see that each and every day if only take the time to look.